theft
[noun]
Synonyms: stealing, embezzlement, fraud, larceny, pilfering, purloining, robbery, thieving

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Related Words: filching, pilferage, pilfering, swiping, robbery, robbing, stouth, stouthrief, score

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English Thesaurus: crime, offence, misdemeanor, felony, robbery, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

theft /θeft/ noun
[Language: Old English; Origin: thiefth]

1. [uncountable] the crime of stealing ⇒ thief, burglary, robbery:
Car theft is on the increase.
an arrest for petty theft (=stealing small things)
Three men were charged with attempted theft.

2. [countable] an act of stealing something:
There have been a number of thefts in the area.
theft of
the theft of £150 from the office

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

theft
noun
ADJ. petty | attempted | car, cattle, etc.
PREP. ~ from They are accused of theft from a newsagent's shop.
~ of She admitted the theft of three pairs of trousers.
 ⇒ Note at CRIME (for verbs)

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

theft

attempted theft
He was charged with attempted theft.
car theft British English, auto theft AmE:
Northern Ireland had one of the highest levels of car theft in Europe.
identity theft (=when someone steals your personal information and uses it to obtain goods or money)
Credit card companies and banks bear the financial loss, rather than the victim of the identity theft.
petty theft (=the stealing of something that is not very valuable)
There had been a rash of petty thefts in the hotel.
art theft
Robbers stole paintings worth £25 million in the French Riviera’s biggest art theft.
commit a theft
Detectives took us to the place where the theft had been committed.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

crime noun [uncountable and countable] an illegal action or activity, or these actions in general:
The police need the public’s help to solve crimes.
Crime is on the increase.
It was a horrific crime.
offence British English, offense American English noun [countable] a crime, especially one that has a particular description and name in law:
It is an offence to drive while using a mobile phone.
a minor offence (=one that is not serious)
a serious offence
a parking offence
misdemeanor noun [countable] American English law a crime that is not very serious:
They pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were fined.
felony noun [uncountable and countable] especially American English law a serious crime:
Fewer than 25 percent of the people arrested on felony charges are convicted.
He committed a series of violent felonies.
robbery noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of stealing from a bank, shop etc:
£100,000 was stolen in the robbery.
The gang carried out a string of daring robberies.
burglary noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of breaking into someone’s home in order to steal things:
There have been several burglaries in our area.
theft noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of stealing something:
Car theft is a big problem.
thefts of credit cards
shoplifting noun [uncountable] the crime of taking things from shops without paying for them:
They get money for drugs from shoplifting.
fraud noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of getting money from people by tricking them:
He’s been charged with tax fraud.
credit card fraud
larceny noun [uncountable] especially American English law the crime of stealing something:
He was found guilty of larceny.
phishing noun [uncountable] the activity of tricking people into giving their personal details, bank numbers etc on the Internet, in order to steal money from them:
One in four computer users reports that they have been hit by phishing attempts.
assault noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of physically attacking someone:
He was arrested for an assault on a policeman.
mugging noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of attacking and robbing someone in a public place:
Muggings usually happen at night.
murder noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of deliberately killing someone:
He is accused of the murder of five women.
homicide noun [uncountable and countable] especially American English law murder:
Homicide rates are rising fastest amongst 15 to19-year-olds.
rape noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of forcing someone to have sex:
In most cases of rape, the victim knows her attacker.
arson noun [uncountable] the crime of deliberately setting fire to a building:
The school was completely destroyed in an arson attack.
vandalism noun [uncountable] the crime of deliberately damaging things, especially public property:
He often got into fights and committed acts of vandalism.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

robbery the crime of stealing money or other things from a bank, shop etc, especially by using threats or violence:
Mobile phones are a common target in street robberies.
Armed robbery is a serious offence.
theft the crime of stealing something, especially when the person they are stolen from is not present:
Car thefts are on the increase.
Security has been tightened since the theft of a $150,000 oil painting.
burglary the crime of entering a house or other building illegally and stealing things:
Most burglaries occur when a house or apartment is empty.
He was charged with burglary.
break-in an occasion when someone breaks a door or window in order to enter a place and steal things:
The break-in was the eighth on our street this year.
There’s been a break-in at the newsagents.
mugging a violent attack on someone in the street in order to rob them:
There have been a number of muggings outside downtown hotels.
raid an attack on a bank, shop etc, especially one in which the thieves use weapons:
The gang carried out an armed raid on a post office.
bank job informal a carefully planned robbery of a bank:
The money from the bank job was quickly taken out of the country.
larceny law the crime of stealing something from someone, without using force or threats. This word is used mainly in American English. It is now old-fashioned in British English:
He pleaded guilty in New York to nine counts of grand larceny (=stealing things that are worth a lot of money).
They were suspected of being involved in petty larceny (=stealing things that are not worth a lot of money).

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲